Department of Astronomy
and Astrophysics
We promote science education, training, and research to expand our knowledge of the universe through undergraduate and graduate education, research, and public outreach.
Develop a comprehensive view of the universe and its physical laws and learn how to explain the universe to the world.
Take a leading role in one of the most productive astronomy and astrophysics research programs in the country.
More than 45 faculty researchers and educators and a dozen faculty members from other departments and colleges at Penn State pursue greater understanding of our universe. Areas of investigation include exoplanets, observational and theoretical cosmology, gravitational radiation, space and ground-based instrumentation, supermassive black holes, brown dwarfs, astrostatistics, and high energy astrophysics.
Read our most recent newsletter for highlights of our department's research, faculty and student honors, academics, alumni achievement and donor support, strategic outreach and partnerships, and more.
Penn State is one of the world's leading institutions in exoplanet research. Alexander Wolszscan, discoverer of the first exoplanets, is one of many faculty in this vibrant field.
For decades Penn State has been at the cutting edge of new approaches to investigating the universe, designing and constructing innovative instrumentation for both space missions and ground-based telescopes.
Our faculty is one of the largest and most productive astronomy and astrophysics programs in the country engaging in front-line research programs and preparing the next generation of scientists for the future.
Featured Faculty
Astronomy and Astrophysics Spotlight
Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics
Penn State University
525 Davey Laboratory
251 Pollock Road
University Park, PA 16802
814.865.0418
